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Re: autopsy of a dead out

thanks toadman,

i think it is possible, but when i look back in my journal, the strong split ended up with more bees in it at first, making me think it had the original queen. (i placed the two hives facing each other a few inches apart when i made the split).

sounds like you made some good moves there with yours.

yep, i still have one or two that are iffy, and i may be a little late in getting to them.

not too worried though, now that i have gotten comfortable with making increase. plus, i like the idea of culling out the nonresistant genetics.

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives

Re: autopsy of a dead out

i moved this hive about 100 yards from where it had been sitting to do the autopsy.

i did this to keep my other bees away, but because there were so few bees in the dead out, it took my a while to gather my sample, and the other bees found us.

i noticed a little scuffling at the entrances of a few of the other hives afterwards. i thought it may have been because of the bees that had been shaken out were trying to join these hives, (and it may have been).

this morning, i brought the empy box, (at least i got 10 deep frames drawn out of the deal), to the house to put the frames in the freezer. there were a few bees still inside the empty box that flew off when i opened it.

i went out to the yard after that, and noticed more of this 'scuffling'. when i looked closer, it wasn't really fighting that i was seeing, but what looked to be grooming.

i think these bees recognized that the returning bees were carrying mites back to the hive, and were trying to clean them off before letting them back into the hive.

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives

Re: autopsy of a dead out

Originally Posted by squarepeg

lee,

i was unable to put my hands on the beekeeping supplier info, i think they were canada just across the border with vermont. i remember them saying that they had to cross the border to get to a u.s. post office to mail it to me.

i did keep the little instruction sheet. it has a guy's name and phone # and email. i will pm that to you.

Re: autopsy of a dead out

Queenie, in all the hours of reading on that site, I've not seen that set of pictures, thank you! That makes about three or four wash contraptions I've seen there, I think I'll try this one before ordering.

LeeB
I try to learn from my mistakes, and from yours when you give me a heads up :)

Re: autopsy of a dead out

i just discovered that the companion split to the one in this thread died out too. here's the last few journal entries for it:

011513: FOUND DEAD OUT, ONLY A FEW DEAD BEES LEFT IN HIVE, JUST A LITTLE FRASS IN BROOD COMB, 2 MITES FOUND ON BOTTOM BOARD, SPOTTY BROOD WITH RAISED CAPS, A FEW EMERGING BROOD WITH TOUNGES OUT, A QUARTER DEEP FRAME HONEY LEFT. BROUGHT HOME AND PUT IN FREEZER.

this one was strong in the fall. it kind of looks like the queen may have failed, but mites may have been an issue as well. i should have been checking for mites, and won't make that mistake again.

it also makes me wonder if i should even try to have an outyard. this makes three colonies lost out of seven from that yard. (the third was from queenlessness and laying workers). i'm finding it not as easy to keep a check on them like i do the ones at home.

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives